Judges turning to creative sentencing

Friday

Jan 25, 2013 at 6:00 AMJan 25, 2013 at 1:38 PM

When a former Doherty Memorial High School student was in court earlier this month facing charges after a Worcester car crash in May that seriously injured his passengers, Central District Court Judge Andrew M. D'Angelo devised an unusual ruling. The judge ordered Jameson Trumble, 18, a talented art student, to paint a portrait and donate it to a children's hospital for brain-injured children.

By Kim Ring TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

When a former Doherty Memorial High School student was in court earlier this month facing charges after a Worcester car crash in May that seriously injured his passengers, Central District Court Judge Andrew M. D'Angelo devised an unusual ruling.

The judge ordered Jameson Trumble, 18, a talented art student, to paint a portrait and donate it to a children's hospital for brain-injured children.

Mr. Trumble's charge of driving negligently was continued until late 2015 without a finding. The judge also barred Mr. Trumble from driving until Jan. 21, 2014, ordered him to attend the Brains at Risk program and complete 200 hours of community service.

Judge D'Angelo is among several area judges who see great merit in the occasional creative sentence, one that offers hope of rehabilitating an offender while satisfying society's need for punishment and restitution.

Judges have five considerations when they sentence defendants, whether it is after a trial or a plea.

Punishment, rehabilitation, protection of the public, restitution and detriment (to society) are taken into account, Judge Paul L. McGill said during a recent day at Western Worcester District Court in East Brookfield.

“Jail time is one option, but we see people get released and re-offend time and time again, so obviously that doesn't work for them,” he explained. “Then we look at what else we can do.”

Paul Simone, the chief probation officer in East Brookfield, said he recalled unconventional sentences handed down in the Worcester juvenile court by then-Judge Martha Grace.

As a probation officer, he spent a Saturday along Cambridge Street watching as youths scrubbed clean the sidewalks, utility poles and other city property they'd tagged with spray paint.

“In the juvenile court, you try to put a mark on them (to change their behavior),” Mr. Simone explained. “The juvenile court is more rehabilitative.”

But creative sentences don't always work.

When the teen driver who was behind the wheel in the 2008 car crash that killed her son was sentenced later that year to pay funeral costs, Natalie Cross was hopeful.

“I thought it would have benefited him more if he'd had to work towards the funeral costs rather than going to jail,” Ms. Cross of Barre said.

Even though she'd lost her son, Ms. Cross was hopeful that the creative sentence would help Jeffrey Harnois understand the gravity of his actions and turn his life around. Ms. Cross' son, Patrick Provost, 17, was riding in a car with Mr. Harnois on July 18, 2008, when the vehicle hit a utility pole and Mr. Provost was killed.

But when Mr. Harnois took the family back to court because he didn't want to pay for a post-funeral dinner known as a mercy meal, her hope faded.

Eventually, he opted to serve time rather than do community service in a facility for patients with head injuries, and pay the funeral expenses. He's finished his sentence and has a child, something that upsets Ms. Cross, who sometimes dwells on how her son, Patrick Provost, won't be providing her with grandchildren.

While the unique sentence didn't seem to work in this case, Ms. Cross said she believes that in many cases defendants benefit more from having to learn the effects of what they've done.

“I think it's more helpful, but only if they're remorseful,” she said.

For years defendants either grumbled or rejoiced when they were sentenced by Judge Milton Raphaelson in Dudley District Court.

“There were three kids who burned a cross on someone's lawn in Dudley and their lawyers wanted probation. My dad said, 'What are they going to learn from that?' ” said Laurie Raphaelson, the daughter of Judge Raphaelson.

Instead, he sentenced them to read four books. One was about the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and another was about desegregation and a family that would not put their child on the bus, Ms. Raphaelson said, relating a conversation she had with her father, who's now 82. Despite having Lewy body dementia, he remembers many of the sentences he imposed.

When he got the book reports from the trio, the writing seemed too sophisticated to be their own. He met with them and discovered they probably weren't capable of reading the books, so he changed the assignment. Instead, they watched movies, read the books together and had discussions.

Ms. Raphaelson said her father wasn't concerned with being popular, but rather with giving everyone a chance. He believed drugs and alcohol play a role in most court cases and set up an Honor Court in Dudley, which he attended every Monday night.

It allowed him to make sure substance abusers were taking part if they were sentenced to be there.

“His feeling was that punishing people isn't going to solve the underlying problem,” she explained. “He never wanted young people to have a criminal record that could affect their ability to get a job or go to college.”

He gave all a chance, she said, but if they blew it, they'd most likely be serving time, which he always hoped wouldn't happen.

“He said, 'The House of Correction? I don't think they correct anything,' ” she said.

Sometimes, unusual sentences drive home a point not just for the defendant. Elected Ohio Judge Michael Cicconetti has handed out so many interesting sentences there is a Wikipedia page about him.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that two weeks ago he sentenced a drunken driver to view two bodies of victims killed in car accidents.

The defendant chose to complete the sentence to avoid jail time after he ran a stop sign and slammed into a car with a married couple inside.

It was the first time the judge had come up with such a sentence, but, he told the paper, he sees too many drunken drivers and wanted a “scared straight” punishment.

It's far more intense than some of his sentences, including one in which a man had to sit alone in silence in the woods for an hour after he was charged with disturbing the peace.

Judges like Judge Raphaelson who impose creative sentences do so because they care, his daughter said. After his long career, he believes he did a lot of good, and she believes he's right, because people approach her and tell her that quite often.

“I didn't save everybody, I know that for sure,” he told his daughter a few days ago. “But I did save a lot of people.”